Tag: the force awakens

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The Force Awakens character names revealed!

Lucasfilm and Entertainment Weekly have paired up to give us character names from The Force Awakens – in trading card form. Daisy Ridley is Rey, John Boyega is Finn and Oscar Isaac plays Poe Dameron. The ball droid is BB-8 (which I’m guessing is pronounced/abbreviated as ‘Bebe,’) and our mysterious villain is Kylo Ren. The card numbers have some significance as well – a mystery to chew on… In addition to Finn and Rey’s last names.

This also puts to bed a popular theory that Gwendoline Christie could be playing the character we now know as Kylo Ren, referring to “his lightsaber.”

UPDATE: One fan has already done the matchwork: Rey, Poe and BB line up nicely, Kylo not so much… Unless… Threepio?!?

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The Force Awakens: Disney attractions to be based on new films

tfa-promo1-falcon-imax800→ Variety hosted a Bob Iger Q&A today, where the Disney chief revealed that theme park plans for the franchise will be based mainly on things from the upcoming films. “I didn’t want someone to say, ‘I just saw the movie and there’s nothing in that movie in this (attraction),” he said. “We waited to see what this film would have in it.”

He also revealed that they debated whether to release an early trailer at all, and that J.J. Abrams’ use of physical sets and props have given the film a “wow factor.”

→ Andy Serkis says that his trailer speech “emotionally rooted” his character – go ahead and add that one to your speculation file.

→ In light of yesterday’s revelation that George Lucas hasn’t seen The Force Awakens trailer and all the hay that was made of it yesterday, Eleven Thirty-Eight has a nice reminder today that George’s perspective is not our perspective.

→ Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy is #13 on The Hollywood Reporter’s Power 100 list of women in entertainment.

→ Cracked’s four stupidest reactions to The Force Awakens trailer. Yeah, pretty much.

→ Rumor corner: Making Star Wars details a chase scene, and some new ships.

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The Force Awakens: George Lucas hasn’t seen the trailer

HONEY BADGER DON'T CARE.→ George Lucas hasn’t seen The Force Awakens trailer yet, Page Six reports this morning. “I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen it yet,” he said. “Because it’s not in the movie theater. I like going to the movies and watching the whole thing there.”

→ On the other hand… “I got really excited when I saw the trailer the other week,” Domhnall Gleeson said recently. “I am a fan. I saw the prequels before I saw the first ones. I am very excited about it.”

→ Did J.J. Abrams start a trend? The first picture from the new James Bond film sure looks familiar. (This is where some film geek comes in the comments and tells me every film that’s tweeted a clapper picture since 2008, right?)

→ And in rumors, Making Star Wars talks about a new kind of walker.

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Today in The Force Awakens: 3D print your own broadsaber

3Dbroadsaber→ Now you can 3D print your own collapsible broadsaber, because of course you can. (via)

→ In addition to this morning’s Andy Serkis rumor, we have Da7e at Latino Review looking at the 4chan stuff, and pulling stuff out of them that he actually thinks are true/interesting. (I get a strong whiff of too much endless-message-board-debate about his lightsaber opinions, though.)

→ For the Tumblr folks, I put together a Star Wars Stylebook entry on how stormtroopers aren’t clones, since there’s been a lot of confusion on that front lately.

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The Force Awakens evening report: Oscar Isaac praises Star Wars experience, fans

sw-xwing327→ We heard from him briefly the other day, but Oscar Isaac talks more about The Force Awakens over at IGN, including advice from Harrison Ford, working with practical effects, the “emotional aspect,” the broadsaber and even the racist backlash to co-star John Boyega:

“What’s great about it is, it’s like, ‘Are you a racist? Here’s a perfect way of revealing that to everyone!’ [Laughs] What I loved about the trailer too is, like, the giant middle finger of the first thing you see, right off the bat: John’s face — BAM! So it is, yeah, ‘Just deal with it.'”

Adding, “ultimately, it’s not even about race at all. It’s about a story, and it’s about these characters. [Boyega’s] a great actor, and he’s so good in this movie. And, you know, why not? But what’s great about it too, even more so, is that the huge majority have come out so vocally, the people that are real, true fans in support. [Laughs] They come out and defend it and make themselves heard. They really drowned out that negativity pretty quickly. I think that was really wonderful, to see that.”

How much dumb luck do you think it was that he happened to be on the publicity circuit for A Most Violent Year just as the trailer hit?

→ Andy Serkis calls the reaction to the trailer “extraordinary.”

→ Did The Force Awakens trailer inspire George R.R. Martin? Will The Winds of Winter really be out in 2015? Who actually expects a gossip blog to have a ‘source’ on George R.R. Martin in the first place? What times we live in.

→ Still running with The Force Awakens on Tumblr, including tons of fan art.

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The Force Awakens morning report: Roger Christian says “there has to be a reason” for the broadsaber

tfa-promo1-broadsaber800→ ANH set decorator Roger Christian, who came up with the first lightsaber, thinks the broadsaber is “an older laser sword.” He says that while it doesn’t seem to be practical, “there has to be a reason,” and that J.J. Abrams “would have considered every visual in this first teaser.” I think it’s just as well that we’re seeing it so early – it gives fandom time to get used to the idea. (Though of course, complainers are going to complain regardless.)

→ The Force Awakens got a ton of attention on Facebook – 16.7 million from 8.4 million unique users. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

→ Rumor Time: Brandon Rhea at Fanpedia has a bit on Han and Leia’s roles in the film.

→ And finally, the 4chan/Reddit “Spoiler Man” is back with a third and presumably final installment. Here’s a non-spoilery tidbit: “Han does not have any Force-sensitivity.” Really. (Are they rumoring from 1981? Is Han “the another?!?”) There are also “script” pages with dialogue that makes “I don’t like sand” look like Shakespeare, though to their credit even Reddit is calling BS on them.

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Today in The Force Awakens: Six Star Wars technologies we might see for real

real-star-wars-landspeeder-split→ Popular Science points out six Star Wars technologies that may not be as far away as we think. Most shocking? There’s already a robot ball.

→ Why racial diversity in The Force Awakens matters.

→ Chris Taylor implores fans to stop overthinking the new teaser. Alas, it is in vain, but I’m sure he knows that.

→ Rumor corner: Jason on Making Star Wars has more thoughts on the beginning of the film, given what we heard yesterday. And there are yet more 4chan/Reddit ‘spoilers,’ including at least one direct contradiction to what we heard yesterday from the same ‘source.’

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The Force Awakens evening report: Oscar Isaac geeks out on actually getting to talk a little about Star Wars

tfa-ss-isaac327→ Oscar Isaac talks about The Force Awakens trailer to MTV’s Josh Horowitz. No reveals of course, but I’m sure it’s a relief to have SOMETHING out there.

→ A rumor that got lost in the trailer shuffle: Does Andy Serkis play multiple roles?

→ On that note, Making Star Wars has the reasoning behind certain large objects we saw in certain leaked photos several months back. (…If only they’d been in the trailer…) Also, when does Oscar Isaac’s character come in? If you’ve been following the rumors, this answer may surprise you…

→ Jason also found a stormtrooper.

→ The Onion’s Clickhole is at it again: 6 Easter Eggs you may have missed in the trailer and “This Fanboy Loves ‘Star Wars’ So Much He Plans To Watch ‘The Force Awakens’ In Theaters.”